On the Fossil Vegetation of America. 77 
amongst them is one Sigillaria of an undescribed species, a few 
impressions of leaves with forked veins, like Sphenophyllum, 
and several branches and stems unlike any I have seen fi d, 
also groups of vegetable tissue resembling nothing in the present 
vegetable existences. But I have not had time to bestow on these 
the study they appear to merit, and merely mention them now to 
draw towards them the attention of others. is 
The analyses of these so-called charcoals of various forms, 
compared with analyses of charcoal artificially prepared from 
recent resinous and non-resinous woods, and particularly from ar- 
borescent ferns, might prove very interesting ; indeed, we appear 
to be only just entering the threshold of the science of fossil 
vegetation. . : 
f’rom what I have hitherto observed, it seems altogether prob- 
able that intense and long continued pressure beneath water, has _ 
transformed the ancient forests into coal. : ‘ 
Coal Plants from Carbondale, Pa. 
CaLaMARIER. 
Calamites Suckowii, Brongn. The longest diameter of this 
specimen is 34 inches; it has been squeezed into a wedge-like 
form, and strie caused by the pressure are quite distinct on the 
thin edge of the wedge on the carbonized surface, indicating the 
pressure to have taken place subsequent tocarbonization. There 
has also been perpendicular pressure, as the vegetable is bent over 
at right angles to the upright stem. 4 i giro iis 
C. ramosus, Artis and Brongn. A very beautiful and distinct 
specimen. The nearly circular scar at the articulation of the 
branches is not so tumid as in the figure given by Brongniart, but 
the strie and their terminations are in exact accordance with it. | 
Calamitee ? gen. and spec.? (fig. 1.) Itis 
above the scar, and their rejunction below, have 
not at all the appearance of Calamites. 
Sphenophyllum Schlotheimii, Brongn. En- }|\|| 
veloped in and surrounded by leaves of this fos- ||j|\j 
sil, are very fine and clear impressions of jointed |}/|/) 
stems, with attached side branches, exactly re- || iM) 
sembling the figure in Lind. and Hutt., vol. 1, } ||| 
tab. 19, 5 1, of Bechera grandis ; it 1s not pos- 
ible to doubt that ves belonged 
sible the lea to these stems and 
branches. - 
